Unions wants vote of no confidence in Joyce

Aviation unions are seeking support from
Qantas
shareholders for a no-confidence motion against chief executive
Alan Joyce
and chairman
Leigh Clifford
at the airline’s annual general meeting in October.

Unions need support from 100 shareholders to put the motion -- which extends to the rest of the Qantas board -- on the notice paper.

But the airline has hit back, accusing the unions of running another “negative campaign to trash the Qantas brand" and refusing to accept that the world has changed.

The quarrel comes amid deadlocked negotiations between Qantas and its engineers, its long-haul pilots and the Transport Workers Union and as the airline seeks to push ahead with a restructure and Asian expansion.

The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association will start industrial action later this week through a series of weekly one-hour stoppages at major airports that will last until Christmas.

The annual general meeting motion argues the board has “presided over a significant destruction in the value of shareholders’ interest".

Unions argue that the Qantas share price has fallen from $5.62 since Mr Clifford was appointed and from $3.43 since the appointment of Mr Joyce, while not paying a dividend since April 2009. Qantas shares closed at $1.45 on Friday.

But Qantas spokesman Luke Enright said if the company did what the unions wanted, “international operations would continue to lose in excess of $200 million a year and it would put the whole airline and tens of thousands of jobs at risk".

Related Quotes

Company Profile

The ALAEA and the Australian and International Pilots Association are pushing the motion. They are likely to get the required signatures because Qantas has thousands of employee shareholders.

However it is unlikely the motion will be endorsed by institutional shareholders, who support the push for structural change at Qantas.

Unions also argue that management has “failed to develop co-operative working relationships with its labour force", while incurring big fines arising from “unlawful cartel behaviour" relating to international freight operations.